Disabled, displaced Altadena resident needs post-Eaton help!

Hi all:

I lived off the corner of Lake and Morada in Altadena, California from May 2023 until my apartment burned to the ground & collapsed last week in the Eaton Fire. I escaped with my cat Charlotte, a couple (but not many) medications, and barely anything else – I lost all my plants, so much medical stuff, all of my clothes, sentimental objects from deceased loved ones, my TV, my furniture, etc. I did not have additional renter’s insurance because it wasn’t required and I’ve been struggling financially already. My credit cards are maxed, I have to start from scratch, and I’m in a uniquely vulnerable position because of my health. This is my darkest hour, and I'm fundraising for my many known & unknown needs as a result of the fire.

Since a medical catastrophe in late 2021, I’ve been disabled with a progressive neurological condition called Complex Regional Pain Syndrome. I’m a partial amputee, I have a mechanical heart valve, a bleeding disorder, a systemic allergy disorder, and more – I have a central line and get infusions of multiple kinds several times a week, I get surgery every three months. I haven’t been able to drive since that incident in 2021, which is one of the things that drew me to Altadena: an affordable area that was still connected well by public transit to the rest of Los Angeles, and naturally beautiful to boot. My medical care – my dozens of specialists who have followed me for years, many of whom are the best in their specialty nationally – is built around Los Angeles and now it is not clear that I will be able to stay here. It was already extraordinarily difficult to find a transit-accessible place within reasonable distance from my medical stuff in LA while also working full-time, and now an unprecedented housing crisis is about to play out.

I was supposed to return to my work-from-home job this week following an extended surgical recovery but it is now increasingly clear I won’t be able to keep up with that gig, as I have to handle the logistics of where I can go next for the short, mid, and long-term, I can’t drive so it’s very hard to even get between temporary evac places, I’m trying to figure out what medical stuff we could maybe do remotely for a few months, etc. I do not have biological family to support me out here, I manage my complex medical conditions alone & with the amazing generosity of others. But now, the need is too great for my immediate community alone to shoulder it.

I have no income, no home, no credit to lean on, and about a lot of difficult, complex, expensive/inconvenient medical treatments just at my normal baseline every month. I have student loans, big credit card bills, and more all still coming out. I have to completely reconfigure my medical setup – that means time, money, and energy spent on appointments, possibly it means expensive travel back and forth from LA over the next couple of months while I try to maintain treatment and find a new transit accessible, affordable place to live, etc. I can’t get a new apartment of my own without stable income, so a job hunt needs to happen too – while displaced! – and then have that job for weeks or months to prove income and get a new place. In short: I need time, I need money, I need everything. Your donations will help me navigate these unprecedented waters. I have no idea how much I’ll end up needing, but I suspect the answer will be “a lot.”

The climate crisis is here. And sometimes, firestorms are so fierce that we cannot stop them: but we can try to save each other when we can. If you have any aid to give, I would so appreciate it. If not, a share or a good thought sent my way would mean the world to me. Love to y’all. And please, for the love of the gods, wherever you are: pack a go bag. I wish I had.

Signed,

Kate, a broken-hearted former tenant of Lake Avenue, aka Ground Zero in Altadena. </3